Following the completion of the
essays, the contributors engaged in a spirited on-line discussion,
based around six broad questions. The results of this discussion
have been incorporated into the introductory and concluding essays
as well as some individual essays. The entire unedited
discussion is available at http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/ imaging/discussion/archived/,
but here we supply some of the most stimulating discussions (eight
in number) found mainly in the conclusions section but with three
available in individual essays. These excerpts have been edited
so that they may be understood standing alone; but to keep the
spontaneity that characterized the original exchange, some references
to background reading still remain. In those cases, the only footnotes
are those supplied by the authors at the time of the discussion.
The language of these sections remains informal. The editors omitted
phrases in the middle of an individual's remarks without using
ellipses to preserve the flow of the exchange. Our justification
for this type of omission is that it was done sparingly, almost
exclusively for the purpose of clarity. On occasion, these extended
remarks revisit material already covered elsewhere, but this material
was retained to maintain the context for other significant comments
by participants.